Unintended Consequences - Montana Grizzly Bears

Lewis and Clark recorded grizzly bear encounters as far east as South Dakota. So this doesn't surprise me they would thrive on the plains.

"Protected status caused unintended consequences". Who could have possibly seen that coming? DUH....

Up around Choteau, Montana, train cars loaded with grain would occasionally derail and spill their loads beside the tracks. Then it would rain. Then the grain started to cook and ferment. Then, the grizzly bears found the grain and made a habit of coming out from the Rocky Mountain Front to lap up some designer barley brews.

Large predators, whether they be bears, cougars, wolves, or alligators, need to understand that all humans, even little children, are dangerous. The only way to get that point across are hunting seasons, targeting such predators. Not enough hunting to wipe them out, but enough to make them fear getting anywhere near humans.

Here’s an idea, let’s introduce 50 grizzly bears into New York’s Central Park and tell the libs to just get along.

Here in north Idaho shorty after the wolves were brought in from northern Canada the elk stoped going up to the mountains in the summer. 5 years ago grizzlies have moved out of the mountains and now have moved down to the farm country.

Remarkable how people who live in these areas general attitudes differ from those who don’t that sit in their apartments and watch nature docos. Like here at home with sharks, so many who never or rarely surf are all about how beautiful and scarce these big white sharks are cause some tv show told them so .

Simple solution hunting permits for grizzly Regulate numbers Reduce the number of bears but maintain a healthy population That’s how hunting works You can’t let apex predators numbers spiral out of control or it affects the entire ecosystem

Here’s a wild idea how about we manage the population so they don’t have to spread out

Have a season on them to get the population back into the wilderness areas, not out in the ranch land. Too many bears and Too many wolves.

You can’t swing a dead cat here in Wyoming without hitting a grizzly bear. They are expanding their territory through out Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

You need to start blasting them, spring bear hunt

Sounds like it might be time for a limited bear hunt along the fringes of their mountainous ranges. How else do you achieve “balance”?

The consequences may be unintended, but they were not unpredictable.

Sorry, I don't agree with a lot of what is presented here, our farm is sixty miles south east of Valier, and the bears are causing problems east of us. I'm 4th generation farmer/rancher, and I will guarantee you that a grizzly, killing livestock in my ancestors yard, would end up being DEAD. Now I'm not saying they should all be shot, but they should be hunted, and have the fear of man put back in 'em. They're really cute when you don't have to worry about running into one when you are just going to the barn or the chicken house. That gal at the end of the video probably doesn't raise sheep in or near Dupuyer. She might feel different if her little boy ended up being carried off just because he was playing basketball out in the driveway some night. The grizzlies were prairie animals when Lewis and Clark came through here, so if we have to go back to the early 1800's in Montana, I think everybody east of the Mississippi should go back to that period also. The same goes for wolves BTW.

This past summer in the Matanuska Valley of Alaska, a grizzly wandered a 30+ mile area, killing and decimating chickens, and turkeys being raised by locals. It took 3 weeks before the bear was finally sighted during the daylight hours and dispatched by AK Fish and Game.

Your opening text states that these prairie bears are the result of recovery in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. Might consider revising that for accuracy -- with no documented movement of Yellowstone Ecosystem bears into the areas you're highlighting, we have to assume that these prairie grizzlies came from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

Can we maybe drop one on the WH lawn ?

The voters are in the big cities, and insist they dictate the predator populations that we rural people suffer the consequences of…!! Maybe us rural folks should be able to make all the laws in the big cities. See how they like that! It has gotten completely CRAZY ! We don’t need big populations of apex predators!!

We had grizzlies in the lower 48 but we could not live with them. We just have to decide how many people we allow them to eat. The longer they are preserved, without hunting pressure , the less fear they will have and there will be bears that have to be destroyed.